May Round-Up

[abyssinia4077]

Wow, May passed really fast and fannish-wise seemed mostly dominated by the sd_ficathon (I hear some of the S/J crazies are freaking out about the sudden influx of S/D fic?). That and fandom freaking out about stuff rather than writing.

Stories I recced:

For May I got to rec both Jack O'Neill and Original Character over at stargateficrec.

Comments

[rydra_wong]

It's so not the kind of thing I would read normally, so I ignored it at first until I saw other people reccing it - but what it tells you about Mitchell is AMAZING.

Psst, your gen is slipping ... :P

Actually, it makes me think of something I've been pondering for a while.

It would be fascinating to try to set up some sort of informal rec exchange or meme, where people could say: "Okay, I'm mostly into gen, these are my interests - rec me the slash/het stuff that you think I might like despite the fact that it's technically slash/het". Or vice versa. Or, "I don't get this particular pairing; rec me the fics that make you buy it". Etc.

IIRC, a while back _minxy_ had a post where she asked people to rec her Sam/Jack fics, because it was a pairing she didn't get.

[beanpot]

It would be fascinating to try to set up some sort of informal rec exchange or meme, where people could say: "Okay, I'm mostly into gen, these are my interests - rec me the slash/het stuff that you think I might like despite the fact that it's technically slash/het". Or vice versa. Or, "I don't get this particular pairing; rec me the fics that make you buy it". Etc.

Oh I like that idea. A lot of pairings work for me on some level, but there are others that make me go "really?"

[abyssinia4077]

Psst, your gen is slipping ... :P

*looks down* oh, crap! *pulls gen back up*

I'm...odd about fic. I'm a gen person and (without going back into that massive gen vs. ship debate I accidentally set off a while ago) I think a lot of that is due to being pretty strict about canon so I have trouble reading ships that canon doesn't specifically tell me exist and so...it takes a lot for me to buy a ship.

I do however, read and enjoy ship fic - but what I really appreciate is shipfic where I can actually believe that, in the set-up of the story, the ship/sex would actually happen. Off the top of my head, three examples I can think of for stories where I actually believed it are: Visting Hours (John/Rodney), A Heart for Every Fate (Jack/Daniel), The Rites of Hedona (Sam/Daniel) and All We Need of Hell (Sam/Jack

[lyore]

This is... almost unrelated to this comment, but reading this made me remember why I was going to friend you a while ago (LJ died, and then I got sidetracked). Which I am off to do right now, as soon as I hit 'post comment'.

I'm...odd about fic. I'm a gen person and (without going back into that massive gen vs. ship debate I accidentally set off a while ago) I think a lot of that is due to being pretty strict about canon so I have trouble reading ships that canon doesn't specifically tell me exist and so...it takes a lot for me to buy a ship.

And for the record, this is exactly the way I feel about gen.

[abyssinia4077]

Welcome!

Yep. Ship has it's place and can be very good - but usually I'm looking for more of what I see onscreen, and usually that means gen.

[moonshayde]

Oh, nice to know more people like this exist. I'm pretty much the same in terms of the show. I love me my gen. I love gen in fandom, too, but I can play in different pools and still walk away fine because I can separate fandom from the show.

[lyore]

I know what you mean. I have a thing for gen in fic, but I'll read just about anything if it can convince me that the characters in the show could be/end up the characters in the fic. I'm all about the justification.

And, because I am feeling both bold and friendly today, I'd like to friend you too :) It's Lyore's friending orgy!... in a gen kinda way, of course

[abyssinia4077]

if it can convince me that the characters in the show could be/end up the characters in the fic.

EXACTLY!

[moonshayde]

Amen to this. That is the beauty of fic. That is why I love fandom so much.

[abyssinia4077]

See - I'm still working on that separation line. I'm getting better, but I still have trouble with ship sometimes because I ping so much to canon. Some ships take more convincing for me than others.

Not that I think fandom is canon...

[moonshayde]

It's taken me 4 years to get where I am now and I still can't fully separate the two. I don't think it's even possible. And I still struggle with pairings like Daniel/Vala and Sam/Jack. That is more of a personal problem though. (Meaning, certains from those camps demanding others see things the exact same way as them or else.) But since I've met some very level headed Sam/Jack and Daniel/Vala people, I've eased up a bit.

Not that I want it on the show. NOOOOO. *ahem* But it's easier in fandom for me because I know a lot of smart friendly people of all persuasions.

[abyssinia4077]

The way I see it: there's two kinds of OTP shippers - those that have one ship they vastly prefer but not to the exclusion of others and those that think their ship is the only way and take personal affront at any other. Given that any ship is imaginary this second opinion makes no sense to me.

But...maybe it's the corner I've found, but SG-1 fandom feels refreshingly multi-shipper in nature. Which I love.

For me - even the pairings I'm not fond of on the show (Sam/Jack is the one that comes to mind) I can still enjoy in fic.

But - yes - fandom deals with ship much better than teh show does.

[rydra_wong]

In paian's story above, I didn't buy that Jack and Daniel were in a relationship, but what I got out of the story was some really amazing character insights into Mitchell and how he interacts with the people around him and who he is. Does that make any sense?

Yep, that makes total sense. And it's partly why I was thinking it would be an interesting meme - to see if there are other slash/het stories that can still hit the "gen spot" for you, for example.

As another example, I think paian's "The Appearance of Objects in Depth" is a fantastic, fantastic Sam story, and I bet there are a lot of Sam fans who haven't read it because it's labelled as Jack/Daniel NC-17.

[abyssinia4077]

Definitely would be interesting. I've found the Gen/Slash/Het divide in Stargate (fandom) to be both interesting and confusing and I know what hits the "gen spot" for me won't hit it for another gen fan - and I know gen people like me who are also, in some ways, multishippers, and gen people who won't click on ship - and people who mostly only read ship or only specific ships.

Me? I'm still learning what I like but I've found every time I say "I don't like x category of fic" I can find one that works (ie: I generally really don't like "aliens made them do it" stories because I feel like the non-con nature isn't addressed, but I've come across a few that work)

[rydra_wong]

That's why I suspect it might work much better as a meme rather than anything formal.

Then people who are on your flist, who already have some idea what your reading tastes are like, might be able to say, "hey, here's this fic you might like" - rather than trying to say, "hey, here's this slash/het fic that all gen readers in the world will like!" (because, no).

That's why I think _minxy_'s post was interesting (and I wish I could find it).

[abyssinia4077]

That makes sense to me. *ponders*

Also, don't mind me while I sit here in amazement that there's a link you're having trouble findin :)